Witnesses told the Advance they saw police cars in hot pursuit of Kacy Royal, 39, along Bradley Avenue just before the crash, and a source familiar with the incident confirmed witness accounts.

Royal was driving south on Bradley Avenue around 12:30 p.m. when he reportedly tried to beat a red light at Purdy Avenue and crashed into a 2000 Toyota Camry, a law enforcement source said.

It wasn't immediately clear why he was being pursued.

Royal's driver's license was revoked in 1997 and 2006 for driving without insurance and surrendered in 2006, DMV spokesman Peter Bucci said. He never had his license reinstated, Bucci said.

Of the 23 open suspensions on Royal's driving record, 11 were for failure to pay a fine; 10 were for failure to answer a summons; one was for failure to pay a driver assessment fee; and one was for failure to pay child support, according to DMV records.

Between 2011 and 2012, Royal was convicted on nine driving-related charges across three boroughs for offenses ranging from aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle to leaving the scene of an accident to disobeying a traffic device, DMV records show.

In addition to racking up driving offenses, Royal also had a long, violent criminal past.

Advance archives show he pleaded guilty to two felonies -- attempted robbery and possessing a stolen car -- in 1992, when he was only 18.

A few years later, in 1997, Royal confessed to breaking into a Graniteville woman's home, tying her arms and legs with cord and raping her, before stealing a number of her personal items. During the trial, the prosecutor argued that Royal was a flight risk because he previously had been convicted of burglary and providing a false name to police in Georgia, according to Advance archives. Royal ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary in the home invasion case and ended up serving 10 years in New York state prison.

Shortly after being released following the 10-year burglary bid in 2007, Royal was charged with selling drugs. He was convicted of fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and spent 18 months behind bars before receiving a merit release to parole, according to New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records.

Royal was picked up again in 2011 and 2012 on misdemeanors -- criminal mischief and possession of a forged instrument, respectively -- but didn't serve prison time, records show.

The Duncan Street address police provided as Royal's home does not exist, and it's unclear where on the Island he might have lived. He once lived in the Arlington Terrace houses on Holland Avenue in Mariners Harbor, according to public records.